Hippolyte inermis

The Hippolyte inermis is a 2-4 cm small shrimp living in shallow waters, rarely under the 50 m, in the submerged prairies of the Mediterranean and of the adjacent Atlantic, from the North Sea to Morocco and the Canary Islands. In the Mediterranean the phanerogam on duty is the Neptune grass (Posidonia oceanica) on which, being mimetic, it easily disappears to the sight of the predators. The form of the body is rectilinear as the leaves and the identical colour, intense green. But especially in winter it can be found also with brown, red, violet, grey, black or transparent liveries and in the night the bright green fades and the animal gets translucent. It is a substantially herbivorous species but with an omnivorous trend, seen that often it does not ignore the animal organisms found on the leaves. The males are smaller than females and after some scientists they might, growing, change sex © Giuseppe Mazza